Reporting Terminology – Run vs Create / Report vs Template

My long-held understanding of the terminology of reporting has always been as follows:

  • I can Design (or Create) a report Template
  • The Template defines the Layout and Criteria of a report
  • I can then Run the Template against a data source to generate a Report (which is the output - PDF,CSV etc)

Looking at SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, Salesforce - they all follow this terminology - you create a report, then you run it...

However, there seems to be widespread misuse of terms, and I frequently see the term "Report" being used to describe the template as well as the output, and the term "Create" being used in place of "Run".

In both cases these alternate uses of terms can cause ambiguity e.g.

  • If I want to "delete a report" am I deleting the template or the output?
  • If I want to "create a report" am I creating the template or the output?

So, I'd be grateful for a community view on the following 2 questions:

  • Is Run the correct/established verb for generating a report output from a template?
  • Is there a definitive standard or golden source for this terminology?
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